Live Life, Find Love, Have A Child In Five Minutes: Hero Generations

Sure, we all love a good game of Civilization V, but we also all know that the epic turn-based strategy can really suck up our time.

That’s one of the reasons we’re so excited about Hero Generations, a Rogue-like strategy game with a unique, personal question at its core: what will you do with the limited time you have left?

You’ll have plenty of choices, but your character will age one year for each turn in the game. If you want to truly influence the kingdom, you’ll need to find a mate, settle down, and have a child.

Your offspring, then, becomes the next controllable character in the game, with all the experience and items that you amassed before you died.

If that doesn’t intrigue you, I’m not sure what will.

Independent game developer Scott Brodie had to pause development on this game in 2011, when it was already receiving awards for its potential. Now that Brodie’s own son has been born and is a little older, it’s time for Brodie to get this game made, and he’s doing so with a Kickstarter project.

“I really love making games independently,” said Brodie in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session. “This is my first time trying to fund a game with Kickstarter, but it seems to be the perfect fit for finding an audience the type of Niche games I like to build. And I love that I can work directly with players instead of there being a layer in between.”

Hero Generations has you exploring a procedurally-generated world, searching for fame and a mate to settle down with before you die. Once you do pass on, you’ll continue your journey as your child. The choices you make early on will influence whether your child has an easy time of it or not.

What’s fascinating to me, though, is the way the game presents meaningful choices. Every turn is a choice about how to live your life. Do you play it safe? Explore the unknown? Pursue your own goals, or make a better world for your kids? These are lessons in life we all need to face sooner or later, and here’s a game that will let you explore the ideas without, you know, actually dealing with the consequences.

Brodie is looking to release the game on Mac and PC once the Kickstarter project has finished and he can spend some time building the final product. You can go support the game there, or head over to Steam Greenlight to give it the old thumbs-up as well.